Alvarez: Next UW football coach will have to tell him if another program comes calling

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said he plans to put a clause in the contract of the next UW football coach that requires the coach to inform Wisconsin if another school contacts him for a job.

Alvarez does not want to go through again what happened in the case of Bret Bielema. Alvarez said he was shocked when Bielema told him at noon on Tuesday in New York he had taken the job at Arkansas.

All of the UW assistant coaches have told Alvarez they will be with the team through the Rose Bowl, Alvarez said.

Alvarez was interviewed Friday by Evan Cohen and Steve Phillips, who have a weekday show on SiriusXM Radio, “Evan and Phillips in the Morning.”

Here’s what Alvarez had to say:

Cohen: Before we get into details, how would you describe this week?

Alvarez: It’s been very hectic. Very hectic and all I can tell you is my adrenaline is running and I don’t get a lot of sleep.

Cohen: Why did you initially decide to bring in coach Bielema?

Alvarez: I knew his background. Bret had done a nice job at Iowa and also at Kansas State. I had lost my defensive coordinator, longtime defensive coordinator to Nebraska. And thought Bret would be a nice fit. After working with him a couple of years, I really liked the way he handled the kids and saw the big picture. I thought he would be the perfect person to come in and take my spot.

Phillips: When you made the decision to step in and take the spot, were there any other schools inquiring about possibly taking him away before you made that move?

Alvarez: No. No.

Cohen: So you gave him a head coaching opportunity when nobody else was thinking about him?

Alvarez: Well, he was still a very young assistant.

Cohen: So looking back at the whole tenure he had, the seven years at Wisconsin, was it better or worse than you anticipated?

Alvarez: It was very good. I turned over a very good program to him. We had a 10-win season with all the kids coming back, and primarily the key players. In his first year he won 12 games. But the program was in great shape when he took it and he was able to sustain it. Did a very good job for us.

Phillips: When did you find out he was leaving?

Alvarez: I found out in New York about noon Tuesday.

Cohen: Tell me about that conversation. That was him telling you that I’m gone or him telling you I have an offer?

Alvarez: That he had made the decision. That was my question. Are you asking to speak to them or are you telling me you’re taking the job? He said I took the job.

Cohen: During your tenure as head coach at Wisconsin, it’s been rumored, OK - Miami, NFL jobs, Nebraska, all these offers you had and you always chose to say. And I know your relationship with former AD athletic director Pat Richter was so great. When you got offers, when you were in that spot, did you tell Pat Richter about that?

Alvarez: Most of the time it didn’t go very far. People would talk to me. I think only one or two other people asked Pat for permission to talk. But there were a number of offers. Most of the time the athletic director would call Pat to ask permission to visit. In all cases I knew what I wanted to do. I had always established that I wanted to build a program, sustain it, be the athletic director there and watch it continue to survive and do well.

Cohen: So in that moment he is telling you that he is going, I’m leaving, I’m not even telling you about the offer. My new AD didn’t even call you about this. What is your emotion like in that moment?

Alvarez: Well, I was very surprised, to say the least. There’s not much you can say at that point. I’m one of these guys who move forward. My wheels started turning about my short list. I had just seen a representative for some coaches who I have on my short list upstairs (in the hotel), and started figuring out how I could find his number and get him up to my room.

Phillips: Why is this process OK? Why is it OK for schools to reach out to coaches currently with another program and have the appropriate contact, ask for permission, have the conversation? Who is wrong? Is it the other AD? Is it the coach? Who’s wrong in this process?

Alvarez: Lots of times there is a middleman. Most coaches today, because the money is so big, most coaches today are represented by an agent or firm. Many times the coach is not involved in the interview or the initial contact period. So a lot moved forward before it even got before the coach.

Cohen: Why did coach Bielema tell you he was leaving?

Alvarez: Said he thought he had a better chance to win championships there.

Cohen: I find that fascinating. I’m biased, yes, because I went to the University of Wisconsin. I’m a fan of you and your program. Steve went to Michigan so he is pro-Big Ten. Here’s the thing I don’t understand. The University of Wisconsin has been to more BCS games than Arkansas. All right, you want to fight me off and say Arkansas is a basketball school. Our school has been to the Final Four more recently than Arkansas. Does Arkansas have a better chance of winning a championship than we do at Wisconsin?

Alvarez: Well, I thought we had a chance to play in the national championship a year ago. And we are going to third straight Rose Bowl. I mean that should answer a lot of questions. Six Rose Bowls since ’94.

Cohen: Assistant coaches. . . He said money for assistant coaches. He said he has had a tough time getting money for assistant coaches. . . .

Alvarez: All I can say to that is I know what the salaries are around the country. Are salaries are very competitive. I was able to keep a staff together for 15 years.

Phillips: Do you regret hiring Bret Bielema now?

Alvarez: No I don’t. Bret did a good job for me. I’ll move on. We’ll be just fine. I’ll hire a good coach and we’ll move forward. I’ve got a good program, got a great place to sell. Got a good nucleus coming back, good kids. He did a good job. I understand this business. I’ll get a good coach in place.

Phillips: Is there anything you can do to set up with the new coach so this doesn’t happen again? That there’s an understanding if there is any contact made that it’s got to come through the university first and not just a decision and then inform you later?

Alvarez: We’ve discussed that already here as an item in the contract. Before discussion with any other program, that we have to be contacted.

Cohen: So meaning it’s a violation of the contract immediately?

Alvarez: Right.

Cohen: Let me go back to the assistant coaching thing. So people wanted to work for you. People did work for you. People wanted to run through a wall for you. Isn’t that more on him than it is on the dollars, that assistant coaches kept leaving him?

Alvarez: Well, I’m not going to go there. You decide that.

Cohen: I think I did.

Phillips: This obviously came as a surprise. Do you know if any other schools had reached out to Bret Bielema as well prior to this one?

Alvarez: I know he talked to a pro team a year ago. I don’t know about any other teams, if his agent had talked to schools or not.

Cohen: When we look at the future of the University of Wisconsin now, the next seven years, whoever the coach is will (he) have a chance to win the national championship?

Alvarez: Yeah, I do. I do.

Phillips: It baffles me the NCAA does not have some legislation about the appropriateness of contacting employees, coaches, coordinators, for other schools. There should be some legitimate protocol and there shouldn’t be this under-the-radar stealth move. For somebody to leave without preparing the university for it. Is it something that can be addressed at the NCAA level?

Alvarez: Rather than legislate that, I would think that would be something administrators come to agreement upon.

Cohen: You are going to coach one more game for Wisconsin. Would you be shocked if you coached two more game for Wisconsin?

Alvarez: One and done.

Cohen: Is there anything you look back upon and said maybe I didn’t make it as employee friendly for Bret Bielema as I could have?

Alvarez: No. And you know what? I think Bret would tell you that. Bret was like a son to me. I was a mentor to him. We talked every day. We went to dinner regularly. For the seven years he was here we walked every Thursday and talked about different things. Talked football. Talked life. Talked about everything. So, no, I don’t think so. And I think sometimes maybe change is good. As I told my players, there’s nothing wrong with change. We look at it as opportunity and we’ll make it a positive.